I read an interesting article on Medium the other day, in which Paul Flannery, an American sports journalist, talks about why he and countless others have turned to running as a way of coping with a ‘mid-life crisis’. Flannery suggests displays of extreme athleticism in particular seem to have special appeal to those of us facing up
Until recently I was sure I knew who the first person to break the four minute mile was. Roger Bannister’s achievement on a blustery Oxford afternoon in 1954 has, after all, gone down in the folklore of our sport. But was he really the first? I thought so, until I came across some research by
These days the pub is probably not the first place that springs to mind when thinking about top class athletics. In fact, going to the pub and competitive running are probably about as culturally – and physically – different as you can get as far as pastimes go. Yet for the best part of a
What’s the most common question you’re asked after finishing a race? In my experience it’s almost always ‘what was your time?’, and talking to other runners it seems this experience is pretty much universal. It doesn’t matter whether you’re an elite athlete or a first time 5k runner, the vital fact is how long it
Today it seems almost unbelievable that it took until 1984 before a women’s marathon was included in the Olympic programme, but from the first modern Games in 1896 until then, only men were allowed to compete at the classic distance. That’s not to say that during these wilderness years there weren’t many women racing in
Sprint superstars like Usain Bolt and Dafne Schippers, with their legions of fans and swollen bank balances, seem like a thoroughly modern phenomenon – a product of mass media exposure and the commercialisation of sport. But surprisingly, this isn’t the case. Research by cultural historian Peter Swain has unearthed the fascinating story of one of
The total length of Britain’s road network today is a staggering quarter of a million miles. That’s about the same distance as from the Earth to the Moon. For many runners, this immense web of tarmac provides the perfect place to practise their sport; roads offer an almost endless choice of smooth, firm and clean
From a sociological point of view, one of the interesting things about running is its association with high levels of privilege – particularly with education and income. This seems surprising: Unlike sports such as tennis, cycling or golf, running requires no expensive equipment or club membership; all most people really need to participate, it has
One of the things I’ve found interesting in studying running is the diversity hidden beneath the sport’s surface. To someone who is unfamiliar with running, a fell-runner, a marathoner, a jogger and perhaps even a track athlete, might all seem to be part of one homogenous group. But for those familiar with running culture, the
Overall figures In this post I’m going to use data from the Big Running Survey, conducted as part of my PhD a couple of years ago, to explore variations in the motivations of different types of runner based on gender and age. I’m not going to try to explain the patterns – that will be
When endurance ruled One hundred and fifty years ago, in an age when sports results were delivered by newspaper and spectators’ attention spans had yet to be eroded by the internet and 24 hour media access, ultra-racing was one of the world’s most popular sports. Some of the most famous Victorian sportsmen were endurance athletes,
This article presents a collection of demographic statistics about running in the UK and beyond. The data is drawn primarily from Sport England’s Active People Survey and its unrivalled dataset, but also my own Big Running Survey, which provides finer detail. UK Running Demographics How many runners? The current size of the UK regular running
Taken at face value, the data from my Big Running Survey suggests that women runners are significantly less competitive than men. Only 16% of the women surveyed reported a strong motivation to do well in races compared to 30% of men. And taking part in races – one potential measure of a competitive leaning – was
This is part 2 of my series on simple running statistics (part 1 here). The data used on this page is primarily drawn from my own Big Running Survey from 2017. Here we focus on exploring the demographic and psychographic features of different ways of participating in running. Section 1 – Demographics within runningGender –
Below is a list of key statistics about running derived from a number of sources, but mainly the Big Running Survey, which canvased the opinions of almost 2,700 runners on their running practices, motivations and attitudes in 2017. Follow the links on selected items for more detail. Section 1 – running demographicsParticipation rates – Social
One of the great appeals of running is its accessibility. Most of us can run – at least for a minute or so – and most own a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. Really the only thing you might need to buy before you can get started is a pair of trainers, although barefoot